American Reacts to The Blitz (1940-41)

American Guy Reacts to The Blitz (1940-41)
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• The Blitz (1940-41)
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[@reggriffiths5769]

As always, the footage of the Blitz is on London. In this video some of the major cities are mentioned, but no-ne seems to think of Belfast, Northern Ireland - the biggest shipyard in the world that, apart from the many battleships it was repairinf and building, it was also building tanks, armoured vehicles and ammunition; the biggest ropeworks in the world that was making rope for ship's riging, cargo nets, hawsers, webbing and twine for parachutes; the most famous, finest linen in the world for canvas and aeroplane skins; and soap & candles for the forces and civilians. Over 1,000 people were killed in one night's blitz - so it wasn't just London. It was the first place the Americans arrived, and they used 21 NI airfields throughout the war. In fact, just a few miles from Belfast, the first US Rangers were formed. Sadly. most Americans know little of the UK during the war, and even less of the US forces in NI.

[@TheBaronessIsAwesome]

Fun fact: Jerry Springer was born in a London underground station used as a shelter in 1944 :)

[@nancyrafnson4780]

Winston Churchill gave a speech over the radio to try to raise the morale and encourage the people of Britain. I’m not British (I’m Canadian) and I wasn’t born until after the war. But I have heard the speech (reaction video??) and even if I hear it today it still makes me cry. When he said “WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER” it was the most stirring thing I had ever heard. Also, being born in 1948, I grew up during the Cold War. It was the most terrifying time in my life. I suffered from nightmares, etc. for years. Thank you for your videos and your interest in the World. 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇱🇷 FOREVER friends and allies.

[@nancyrafnson4780]

@@paultaylor9498 I would suggest that you get he a soul and maybe a heart too he

[@bentels5340]

The terrible thing is, for most of the Blitz the British were able to read the Luftwaffe's encoded communiques and knew where they were going to hit (look up Alan Turing and Bletchley Park). But they didn't want the Germans to know they'd broken the Enigma ciphers, so a group of officers in Britsh high command had the wonderful job of deciding which air raids they were going to intercept and which they would let through. One can only imagine what state they must have been in after the war...

[@anthonyeaton5153]

Not too sure about know ing it in 1940.

[@andypandy9013]

That was one of the big differences between the UK and the USA in World War II. Some 70,000 British civilians were killed by enemy action on home soil during the war but only 6 were killed in the same way in the contiguous 48 states. And that was by a Japanese 'Balloon Bomb', not by enemy aircraft dropping bombs, V1 'Doodle Bugs' or V2 Rockets.

[@frankdoyle9066]

My parents help to fight that war. They spent the night in the shelters and next morning after the "all clear" they left the shelter to go back to work in the munitions factory. And then worked a twelve hour shift!!!

[@angierucinski5694]

My mum was one who went down to the shelter and came back to find she and her family were homeless. Let's not laugh about that.

[@casp11]

still have my Anderson shelter in the garden now used as a shed. 🇬🇧👍 love your reactions much respect Birmingham UK. Birmingham is the second biggest city in the UK.

[@vonsauerkraut]

Yes Second Biggest Muslim Shit hole in England

[@TheCornishCockney]

Panic? Errr,no,we’re British.

[@Simon-hb9rf]

the only time the British panic is when we run out of tea :)

[@himarkburdett9378]

As a kid my gran still had old bunker at the end of her garden. You are the only American to do this one that I know

[@peterjanssen2105]

They also bombed Rotterdam to the ground to bring the Netherlands to its knees

[@arnodobler1096]

(over) simplified

[@bigtwisted30]

We had an air raid shelter in our school playground (school was really old). Many rumours about it being haunted etc 😅

[@Escapee5931]

My mom was a girl during the war, and was evacuated away from the industrial town she lived in, about 30 miles away to stay on a farm for a few months. On a local industrial estate, the factories still had air raid shelters for the workers as recently as the '80s.

[@grahvis]

My father was a member of the St. John Ambulance Brigade. He was a volunteer ambulance driver in the East End during the Blitz. I only know that because I once asked him why he had a medal ribbon on his uniform. My mother worked in an aircraft factory when it was bombed. 84 workmates were killed, with over 400 injured.

[@Mr9ig]

I’d suggest you look at actual wartime footage of the blitz, cartoons don’t convey the devastation caused and the British bulldog spirt to flip the Germans a finger!

[@peterstubbs5934]

The Brits dont do "Panic Mode" mate. Unlike some people that went into panic mode cos of a radio broadcast of "War of The Worlds" by ORSON WELLS.

[@TheBaronessIsAwesome]

If the UK hadn't held, I'm sure we'd all be speaking German. This was the first truly awful blow to the Germans, who had been waltzing into every country they invaded so far. It just proved they weren't infallible and it also caused a lot of tension between Hitler and Göring, who was supposed to be the awesome decorated first WW superhero pilot.

[@daveofyorkshire301]

The blitz went on for 8 months, it was more a matter of "they're back again" than panic. This is why all these dark bleak films like the remake of Battlestar Galactica is so wrong, humour and ridicule of your enemy is a weapon against them, it naturally pervades everything, and your enemy becomes a target of disdain and ridicule.

[@brianrowe236]

I was born in 1949, in Plymouth, a city where the centre was flattened by the German bombers. In the 50s there were bombsites, an area where the rubble of a destroyed house had been cleared, all over the city. As kids we loved them - an area to play on. I know at least one bomb landed just down the road from where I live now - one poor lady lost her life.

[@angelamcginley4948]

Iam her in scotland, nx town south of me is Dumbarton and I always remember my aunt telling me that they used to light up the Kilpatrick hills, away from the town. They were bombed instead of the town. In people's Palace in Glasgow there is great stuff about the Anderson shelters and loads of stuff about the blitz.

[@andymason5715]

The problem is many british cities were bombed, practically all of the major ones. Hull for instance was almost completly destroyed but the perception is that was it was mainly London and Coventry. What also adds to this is that during the blitz the numbers of casulaties and bombings were not fully reported for two reason, to keep the moral of the people high and playing down the bombings as being near misses and unsuccesfull when the fact was the opposite. Of course this was to keep the Nazis thinking their raids were not as succesfull as they thought but in fact it was almost the opposite. My grandmother worked near Leeds train station (that was bombed) and she told me she was young and not so much scared but excited and it didnt stop her from going to work when the bombings were happening.

[@anthonyeaton5153]

I lived in Hull from 1946 to 1952. I saw a great deal of bomb damage as Hull was hammered during the war, but to claim that Hull was destroyed is wrong. There were many areas untouched by bombing as was the case in almost every other city.

[@andymason5715]

@@anthonyeaton5153 Ok but pretty close at 95%, I quote. "During World War Two, Hull experienced the worst bomb damage of anywhere outside London. For security reasons, journalists were only allowed to refer to bombing in a 'north east costal town' so the rest of the country remained unaware that ninety-five percent of Hull's homes were destroyed or damaged by bombs."

[@tobycollins1636]

Birmingham was battered because it was the industrial heart of the UK , munition factories, aircraft production, engine production etc

[@tacfoley4443]

Belfast was 'battered' for the same reason. TNK there were/are no shipyards in Birmingham.

[@tobycollins1636]

@@tacfoley4443 Trying to destroy our ability to fight back or transport our food and starve the nation

[@frankgunner8967]

Victory in The battle of Britain made Hitler give his invasion plans, when my grandfather was away at war he got a message from my grandmother that said when she came out of the local shelter with the kids half of the street had been bombed and their house had gone they had to start all over from scratch.

[@joyridgway6398]

I would love to see a reaction to rationing during WWII.

[@jeffrey0415]

first XD

[@alfredbearman396]

For a better impression watch 13 Hour's that saved Britain. Cheers

[@TukikoTroy]

No, there wasn't really much in the way of panic when the sirens sounded. In fact, as the blitz went on day after day, if anything it became more organised and, well, routine.

[@anthropicfailure]

super simplified vid tbh

[@wimve4719]

From BE, I couldn't agree more ....

[@helenking8297]

My Gran lived through the blitz. Just up the road from where i live now. Btw nobody panicked!!! Us Londoners dont do panic!! The only panic my gran did was during a daylight raid, and she wasnt near a shelter so she hid in a phone box, and wet herself. She was only 19 and had been married about a year. My great grandmother died during the blitz, of a heart attack. My Gran just sort of lived with it

[@janetnewman709]

They couldn’t break the British spirit! 😊

[@tanteesadonina5846]

Greetings from Belgium

[@anthonyeaton5153]

Bombed 56 nights out of 57 child’s play? Hardly.

[@paulhadfield7909]

in my village many gardens still have bomb shelters, rooms builtt under the ground

[@chrism7395]

2:30 Per square mile, Plymouth had more ordinance dropped on it than any other city outside London, and continued to experience periodic raids until 1944. During WW2 the probability of getting killed as a civilian in London was 1:400 whereas in Plymouth it was 1:200. It would've been a lot worse if not for a local councillor called Bill Miller; the grandson of a freed slave, before the war he'd worked for the Royal Flying Corps, offered free legal advice to his constituents, setup the city's first electrical showrooms and created a free electrical wiring service to ensure safe, standard practices were being observed. During April and May 1941 he organised unofficial evacuations of women and children by commandeering trucks, buses and carts in defiance of orders from central government in London (who were afraid that such evacuations would impact morale, counteract the narrative which downplayed attacks on cities outside of London and Coventry and ultimately cause a nationwide panic). He was arrested and given a reprimand but ultimately vindicated when the government changed policy shortly after his trial and began organising official evacuations. After the war, he chaired the city's Housing Committee and worked with the Admiralty to retool Devonport Dockyard so that it could build prefabricated housing for the thousands who'd been made homeless. In 1947 refused the position of Lord Mayor as it would've forced him off of the Housing Committee. He was later honoured with a British Empire Medal, Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE, the highest rank below receiving a full Knighthood). He remained a councillor until shortly before his death in 1970!

[@anthonyeaton5153]

Several cities have claimed that dubious unwanted crown

[@mairiconnell6282]

I have an Anderson shelter in my back garden. Now my garden shed. There was no panic during the blitz. In fact many people didn’t go into shelters preferring to shelter under the staircase. My mum nursed during the Glasgow bombing. Mum was only 16 years old. So many servicemen came home after the war only to find their family home and relatives gone.

[@101steel4]

No surrender 🇬🇧

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

Compared to what German civilians had to endure in the Allied bombing campaign, the German air raids (at least until the V1 and V2 weapons appeared) were a child's birthday party...

[@tacfoley4443]

They shouldn't have started it, then.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

@@tacfoley4443 Do you really want to discuss how the war came about? Then we would have to start in 1914. Maybe we would have to go even further back. To the time when Queen Victoria was still alive...

[@tacfoley4443]

@@melchiorvonsternberg844 I had relatives and dead on both sides in both wars, and I was a soldier. Wars happen because men want them to happen. End of story.

[@melchiorvonsternberg844]

@@tacfoley4443 I'm afraid you're making things a little too easy for yourself. Of course wars start because people want to fight them. No question about it! But it's a different matter whether you stumble into a war, or whether you've been preparing for the conflict for decades and are just waiting for a good opportunity to fight...